Once in a while you get an indie developer who you possibly can depend on to ship a banger just about each time. New Star Video games is one such developer, having already scored wholesome scores on Nintendo Life up to now for New Star Supervisor (which scored 8), Retro Bowl (9), and Retro Objective (8).
Alongside its Change releases, it’s additionally been chargeable for a bunch of unbelievable cell video games, together with the likes of the New Star Soccer sequence, New Star Cricket, and New Star Baseball. Primarily, every part New Star touches turns to gold, however it’s additionally truthful to say it has a method of sport it’s greatest recognized for: retro-style sports activities video games.
With New Star GP – named after an outdated top-down racer it launched years in the past – the studio has gone for one thing very completely different from the everyday output followers are used to. Relatively than going with one other 2D fashion sports activities sport with ‘life-style’ profession choices, it’s stepped approach out of its consolation zone and provided a polygonal F1 racing sport that’s extra Virtua Racing than Virtua Striker.
Fortunately, the outcomes present that New Star Video games is greater than a one-trick pony, and New Star GP is simply as entertaining, participating, and moreish as the rest beforehand launched by the developer. That stated, nevertheless, it does have one slightly bothersome niggle that ought to be identified.
First although, the nice (and there’s loads of it). The sport has two predominant modes: Championship and Profession. The previous has you selecting an F1-style automotive – you possibly can play as a typical mannequin from the ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000s, 2010s, or 2020s – then choosing a producer to get the color that fits you greatest.
You possibly can work your approach by a sequence of multi-race championships, every of which ranges from three to 10 races, and gives a themed collection of the sport’s 34 programs. One championship, for instance, is known as the Hill Climb Observe Cup and focuses on programs which have their fair proportion of inclines.
Championship mode is an effective possibility in the event you’re simply in search of a fast burst and play by a couple of races, however it’s the Profession mode the place the primary meat of New Star GP lies. Like lots of the different New Star video games, it’s centered extra on taking you thru a prolonged racing profession and juggling numerous different outdoors parts.
Profession begins you off within the Nineteen Eighties, and has you working your approach by all 5 a long time by enjoying by a sequence of races, gaining factors alongside the way in which in typical F1 fashion. The place it differs from the standard F1 routine, nevertheless, is that as an alternative of getting to set a time on qualifying periods with empty tracks, it as an alternative makes issues extra entertaining by providing you with an non-obligatory separate race with a special rule set, which you’ll tackle for bonus money and trophies earlier than transferring on to the primary race itself.
These non-obligatory challenges may very well be Checkpoint races (the place it’s a must to drive by a set variety of checkpoints earlier than the time runs out), Elimination races (the place the racer in final is eradicated when a timer runs out), Time Trials (the place it’s a must to full a sure variety of laps inside a time restrict) or what have you ever. Nothing right here is revolutionary in any approach – if we had a nickel for each racing sport with an Elimination race kind in it, we’d be capable of afford our personal F1 automotive in actual life – however it no less than provides a little bit of selection as an alternative of being ‘qualify, race, qualify, race’ advert nauseam.
It wouldn’t be a New Star sport with out some type of administration facet going down outdoors of the particular enjoying of the game, and New Star GP is not any completely different. Right here it’s a must to hold your group completely happy as a result of they every present completely different advantages, however this implies there are events when it’s a must to make tough choices which is able to inevitably upset a few of them.
In case you mess up a race and fail to complete on the rostrum, who’re you going to throw below the bus in the event you’re interviewed and requested who’s in charge? Will you level the finger on the engineers and threat the potential for them leaving the group, leading to you dropping sure perks that enhance your automotive’s efficiency? Or will you blame your industrial supervisor and threat making much less cash for a win? Once more, it’s hardly a Masters in psychology and none of those errors are going to vary the sport to a Telltale-level diploma, however it’s a little bit of enjoyable that when once more mixes up the standard racing sport routine of profitable races, upgrading the automotive, and repeating till it’s maxed out.
All this could be for naught, after all, if the sport itself wasn’t really enjoyable to play, and fortunately New Star GP doesn’t disappoint. For probably the most half. Taking clear inspiration from Virtua Racing, the essential polygonal graphics give the sport a equally clear, stylised look to Sega’s seminal arcade racer, and issues look good and sharp whether or not enjoying on TV or in handheld mode.
Dealing with is satisfying and gives sufficient of a problem with out taking issues too significantly, that means you possibly can’t simply profession round turns with the accelerator taped down however you even have a little bit of freedom to chop some corners and stumble upon opponents with out it immediately ending your race. It’s a fragile stability to stroll and New Star does so with gusto.
The primary situation we have now is that, no matter which of the quite a few digital camera angles you determine to play with, the sport struggles with body charge. It runs a lot smoother on different methods, and whereas different multi-format video games would counsel that you just’d anticipate a drop in efficiency on the Change, the low-poly artwork fashion means we’ve obtained to surprise if there was extra room for optimisation someplace.
Whereas we recognize there’s a higher stage of element right here than within the Change’s Sega Ages model of Virtua Racing, the truth that port runs at a flawless 60 frames per second whereas this struggles to take care of any actual stability implies that in the event you play Sega’s sport then transfer straight onto New Star’s, the latter feels sluggish and fewer polished by comparability. To be clear, it’s not prefer it drops to 15fps or something ridiculous like that, and it’s nonetheless completely playable, however it’s noticeably uneven at occasions.
Nonetheless, that’s merely one notable situation in what’s in any other case an awesome racing sport, one which pays tribute to the early days of polygonal racers whereas nonetheless providing sufficient concepts to make it stand out by itself. Followers of the New Star video games inquisitive about how completely different this appears to be like from the group’s typical fare can relaxation assured that the identical stage of compelling ‘another go’ gameplay continues to take pole place right here.
